(1) Service, including service in interstate commerce,
performed for wages or under any contract of hire, written or oral,
express or implied;

(2) Any service performed by an employee, as defined in
Section 3306(i) of the federal Unemployment Tax Act, including
service in interstate commerce;

(3) Any service performed, including service in interstate
commerce, by any officer of a corporation;

(4) An individual's entire service, performed within or both
within and without this state if: (A) The service is localized in
this state; or (B) the service is not localized in any state but
some of the service is performed in this state and: (i) The base
of operations, or, if there is no base of operations, then the
place from which the service is directed or controlled, is in this
state; or (ii) the base of operations or place from which the
service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some
part of the service is performed but the individual's residence is
in this state;

(5) Service not covered under subdivision (4) of this section
and performed entirely without this state with respect to no part
of which contributions are required and paid under an unemployment
compensation law of any other state or of the federal government,is employment subject to this chapter if the individual performing
the services is a resident of this state and the commissioner
approves the election of the employing unit for whom the services
are performed that the entire service of the individual is
employment subject to this chapter;

(6) Service is localized within a state, if: (A) The service
is performed entirely within the state; or (B) the service is
performed both within and without the state, but the service
performed without the state is incidental to the individual's
service within this state, as, for example, is temporary or
transitory in nature or consists of isolated transactions;

(7) Services performed by an individual for wages are
employment subject to this chapter unless and until it is shown to
the satisfaction of the commissioner that: (A) The individual has
been and will continue to be free from control or direction over
the performance of the services, both under his or her contract of
service and in fact; and (B) the service is either outside the
usual course of the business for which the service is performed or
that such service is performed outside of all the places of
business of the enterprise for which such service is performed; and
(C) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently
established trade, occupation, profession or business;

(8) All service performed by an officer or member of the crew
of an American vessel (as defined in Section 305 of an act of
Congress entitled Social Security Act Amendment of 1946, approvedthe tenth day of August, one thousand nine hundred forty-six), on
or in connection with the vessel, provided that the operating
office, from which the operations of the vessel operating on
navigable waters within and without the United States is ordinarily
and regularly supervised, managed, directed and controlled, is
within this state;

(9) (A) Service performed by an individual in the employ of
this state or any of its instrumentalities (or in the employ of
this state and one or more other states or their instrumentalities)
for a hospital or institution of higher education located in this
state: Provided, That the service is excluded from "employment" as
defined in the federal Unemployment Tax Act solely by reason of
Section 3306(c)(7) of that act and is not excluded from
"employment" under subdivision (9), section seventeen of this
article;

(B) Service performed in the employ of this state or any of
its instrumentalities or political subdivisions thereof or any of
its instrumentalities or any instrumentality of more than one of
the foregoing or any instrumentality of any foregoing and one or
more other states or political subdivisions: Provided, That the
service is excluded from "employment" as defined in the federal
Unemployment Tax Act by Section 3306(c)(7) of that act and is not
excluded from "employment" under subdivision (13), section
seventeen of this article; and

(C) Service performed in the employ of a nonprofit educationalinstitution which is not an institution of higher education;

(10) Service performed by an individual in the employ of a
religious, charitable, educational or other organization but only
if the following conditions are met:

(A) The service is excluded from "employment" as defined in
the federal Unemployment Tax Act solely by reason of Section
3306(c)(8) of that act; and

(B) The organization had four or more individuals in
employment for some portion of a day in each of twenty different
weeks, whether or not the weeks were consecutive, within either the
current or preceding calendar year, regardless of whether they were
employed at the same moment of time;

(11) Service of an individual who is a citizen of the United
States, performed outside the United States after the thirty-first
day of December, one thousand nine hundred seventy-one (except in
Canada and in the case of the Virgin Islands after the thirty-first
day of December, one thousand nine hundred seventy-one, and before
the first day of January, the year following the year in which the
secretary of labor approves for the first time an unemployment
insurance law submitted to him or her by the Virgin Islands for
approval), in the employ of an American employer (other than
service which is considered "employment" under the provisions of
subdivision (4), (5) or (6) of this section or the parallel
provisions of another state's law) if:

(A) The employer's principal place of business in the UnitedStates is located in this state; or

(B) The employer has no place of business in the United
States, but: (i) The employer is an individual who is a resident
of this state; or (ii) the employer is a corporation which is
organized under the laws of this state; or (iii) the employer is a
partnership or a trust and the number of the partners or trustees
who are residents of this state is greater than the number who are
residents of any one other state; or

(C) None of the criteria of paragraphs (A) and (B) of this
subdivision is met but the employer has elected coverage in this
state or, the employer having failed to elect coverage in any
state, the individual has filed a claim for benefits, based on the
service, under the law of this state.

(D) An "American employer", for purposes of this subdivision,
means a person who is: (i) An individual who is a resident of the
United States; or (ii) a partnership if two thirds or more of the
partners are residents of the United States; or (iii) a trust, if
all of the trustees are residents of the United States; or (iv) a
corporation organized under the laws of the United States or of any
state;

(12) Service performed by an individual in agricultural labor
as defined in subdivision (3), section seventeen of this article
when:

(A) The service is performed for a person who: (i) During any
calendar quarter in either the current or the preceding calendaryear paid remuneration in cash of twenty thousand dollars or more
to individuals employed in agricultural labor including labor
performed by an alien referred to in paragraph (B) of this
subdivision; or (ii) for some portion of a day in each of twenty
different calendar weeks, whether or not the weeks were
consecutive, in either the current or the preceding calendar year,
employed in agricultural labor, including labor performed by an
alien referred to in paragraph (B) of this subdivision, ten or more
individuals, regardless of whether they were employed at the same
moment of time;

(B) The service is not performed in agricultural labor if
performed by an individual who is an alien admitted to the United
States to perform service in agricultural labor pursuant to
Sections 214(c) and 101(a)(15)(H) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act;

(C) For the purposes of the definition of employment, any
individual who is a member of a crew furnished by a crew leader to
perform service in agricultural labor for any other person shall be
treated as an employee of the crew leader: (i) If the crew leader
holds a valid certificate of registration under the Migrant and
Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act; or substantially all
the members of the crew operate or maintain tractors, mechanized
harvesting or crop-dusting equipment, or any other mechanized
equipment, which is provided by the crew leader; and (ii) if the
other person is not otherwise an employer of the individual;

(D) For the purposes of this subdivision, in the case of any
individual who is furnished by a crew leader to perform service in
agricultural labor for any other person and who is not treated as
an employee of the crew leader under paragraph (C) of this
subdivision: (i) The other person and not the crew leader shall be
treated as the employer of the individual; and (ii) the other
person shall be treated as having paid cash remuneration to the
individual in an amount equal to the amount of cash remuneration
paid to the individual by the crew leader (either on his or her own
behalf or on behalf of the other person) for the service in
agricultural labor performed for the other person; and

(E) For the purposes of this subdivision, the term "crew
leader" means an individual who: (i) Furnishes individuals to
perform service in agricultural labor for any other person; (ii)
pays (either on his or her own behalf or on behalf of the other
person) the individuals so furnished by him or her for the service
in agricultural labor performed by them; and (iii) has not entered
into a written agreement with the other person under which the
individual is designated as an employee of the other person;

(13) (A) The term "employment" includes domestic service in a
private home, local college club or local chapter of a college
fraternity or sorority performed for a person who paid cash
remuneration of one thousand dollars or more in any calendar
quarter in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year
to individuals employed in domestic service; and

(B) Notwithstanding the foregoing definition of "employment",
if the services performed during one half or more of any pay period
by an employee for the person employing him or her constitute
employment, all the services of the employee for the period are
employment; but if the services performed during more than one half
of any such pay period by an employee for the person employing him
or her do not constitute employment, then none of the services of
the employee for the period are employment.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.